Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1887-06-03

Il
"There, Squire, he said, "you finish it.
1t will warm the cookies of your heart"
Bob had curious skill in the compound
ing of beverages. 1t was through this ac-
complishment of his that our strange init
macy had commenced. I drank, but did
not finish the fiery draught, the cookies of
my heart were warmed by the first mouth
full.
Bob laughed at the milksoppishness, or,
as he expressed it, beersoakiShness of the
Chicago men. emptied the pan, filled it
again with iuniperized whisky, and then
drawlcd:
@Now you turn in, Colonel; you've weak
head, and bugle sounds tomorrow ut sun
rise. sharp; We must be back here by sun
down, and we've deal to get through be-
twixt whiles. You can go to sleep with
your pipe in your mouth. if you like. You
can't set the curtains afire. I'm in for q
drink"
| He threw fresh logs upon the fire, and
then sat down with his back to it, putting
away like steam engine, and gazing at
the moon, rising above the tops of the
dark trees that choked distant guiley,
with dreamy yet ferocious expression.
I rolled myself up in my blanket, lay down
with my feet to the fire, and nusing on the
strange chances that had brought me to
this wild region, fell asleep.
stumble up, all hands on deck!"
This summons from Bob, who, among
score Of other caliings, had been q
sailor-accompanied by vigorous
shaking, reused me in the morning.
Bob grinned, as he indicated by dumb
show the quantity of whisky he had got
through during tho night. It was fright
full amount, but his hand did not shake,
and his eyes we're as clear and as keen as
hawks.
Isnuffed in grcedily savory scent. A
grilled venison steak was ready for break
fast. aGobble it up" said Bob, "and be
quick about it, while give a look to the
horses. We must leave 'em here to-day,
they're SAFE"
We started on foot, and assembled mar
row pass that was almost n perpendicular
rock stairway. While hating on land
ing, SO to speak, for me to recover breath,
discovered lizard such Us had never
seen before. 1t was large and beautiful.
Again we mounted until we reached another
landing narrower than the former. with
grotto running into the rocky mountain
side. This we entered. Bob took from
his pouch hand lamp, trimmed the wick,
lighted it. and beckoned me to follow. To
do so seemed at first very much like run
ming ones head against solid wall, for
Bob steered stem on for what appeared o
barrier of impenetrable rock. Suddenly
swerving. however, he led by succession
of zigzags to a pass with seemingly in
superable obstacles of solid rock, into
corridor 80 low that, both being six feet
in height, we had to walk in stopping
position. This corridor stopped downwards
in series of steps. AS we descended the
air rapidly grew warmer. At first, after
ton was agreeable, but soon even tough
Bob was bathed in perspiration. Ny shirt
was literally wet through, and q feeling of
| stupor stole over mo.
The corridor became loftier; We entered
q vaulted chamber. In one corner was
heap of fossils, which Bob on previous
visits. having broken through the stalag-
mite floor, had accumulated. Among them,
amid other mammal remains, was
the almost perfect skeleton of q
horse, big enough to have sheltered the
Troy taking Danai. There was human
tibia which must have belonged to man
who bore the same proportion to the said
horse that the average man nowadays does
to full-grown elephant, and among the
implements I particularly noted small
tooth comb to match. On piece of
stalagmite, which Bob assured me he had
sawn off the bottom of a block nineteen
feet thick-and, with all his failings, Bob
never led observed with awe, an awe I
cannot describe, characters evidently traced
| by human hand.
| My brain whirled as tried to calculate
the remoteness from me in time-time! it
seemed eternity-of him or her, save for
that inscription utterly vanished like a
dissipated vapor, whose mouldered fingers
had fashioned that memorial. On another
sawn-of portion of stalagmite, not quite
SO thick, there were circular footmarks
| which showed plainly that pattens must
1
have been worn in dizzy ages dim and
mute.
We wandered on from chamber to
chamber, listening to the eerie sound of
water, drip, dripping as it had dripped for
million of years, unhastingly. unrest
ingly building up the fantastic forms we
saw around; to the still eerier gurgle of unss
seen streams, in which Bob assured me
and how could contradict him?-there
swan blind offers that preyed upon blind
trout. distinguished American, in his
description of the Mammoth Cave, re-
marks: mature. on new instruments, huns
her old tunes" In what. for better
name, I will call Ledger Cave, I was struck
on the other hand, by the manner in which
Nature, on old instruments, hummed what
are supposed to be comparatively new
tunes. ran my staff. along row of
stalactites of different lengths, and again
ecstatically repeated the process, when
found that they most unsteady rendered
"Wait Till the Clouds Roll By" Another
set gave back "When the Robins Nest
Again" most accurately, with the exception
of the antepenultimate and the last hars